This invention relates to video teleconferencing and, more particularly, to techniques for controlling the source of the audio portion of a video teleconference.
During the course of a video teleconference involving three or more participating stations, it is often difficult for the participants to know who wishes to talk next. This problem can be exacerbated by time delays inherent in the system (i.e. "audio latency"). These time delays are not so problematic for the case of just two participants, but when three or more participants are involved significant confusion can be caused. If coordination of the video and audio (i.e. "lip synched video") is desired, it is not practical to eliminate the time delays, since significant time is required to implement the necessary video compression and decompression algorithms needed for transmission of the video images on moderate bandwidth channels.
It would therefore be considered highly desirable to have a method for allowing all participants in a video teleconference to be made aware of who wishes to speak next, and to provide a logical and fair arrangement for allocating speaking opportunities.